KATHY IWANOWSKI

Artists Bio & Statement



"I consider myself a mixed media artist in both my individual piece development as well as in my overall art experience, utilizing whatever is at hand to create both two-dimensional and three-dimensional works. The majority of my work is done with bold color but recently, I have also been doing more black and white images. Lately, I have also been expanding my portfolio in both illustration work and larger public art projects."

 ~ Kathy Iwanowski

Kathy has art in her "genes", coming from a family of photographers, designers, and inventors. She also has a brother who is an artist. Even though she was a registered nurse for 23 years, she attended the University of South Florida and graduated with a degree in Studio Art in 1994.

While in art school, Kathy found that she enjoyed the unpredictability and spontaneity of firing clay and printmaking. Today, she incorporates these same attributes in her artwork and has developed a style that is both bold and contemporary. Often working in bright and vivid primary color to form the basis of her pieces, she forms her works through layers of color to build form and texture. Most of her collectors are usually drawn to her works exactly the way she creates them. First, they get attracted by emotions of her colors, then, the shapes and forms suggested, and finally, and not always importantly, to the subject matter or theme, if there is one.

Even Kathy does not know what a piece will look like until it is completed because of the ease at which she lets her intuitive side do the actual work. Each piece seems to emit its own personality and energy. Each piece seems to have a mind of its own. For other types of artists, this could be troubling. But for Kathy, there is something natural and normal about this process. Influential artists include Picasso, Matisse, Mondrian, Chagall, Miro, Arp, Giacometti, and Noguchi.

Days and weeks can go by without a mark on paper or canvas. Then, several pieces start coming out at once. Each piece, however, develops at its own pace, often unfolding like lines of poetry that are laid down one word at a time. There are some pieces that have not "come out into the light of day" yet as they inch themselves through the layers at their on their own time. Her style is unmistakable and one never knows what mediums that Kathy will decide to work. Kathy considers herself a mixed media artist, combining foam, sand, wax, paper, broken glass, and paints in both two- and three-dimensional pieces.

In the past three years, Kathy has done multiple interactive art projects, bringing herself and the community together to work on pieces, with charitable organizations in her area including the American Cancer Society, the Tampa Bay Affiliate of the Susan G Komen Foundation, and the Pinellas County Environmental Foundation, a local initiative of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in Washington, DC. She has facilitated an "Artist's Way" discussion group for Barnes & Noble Booksellers and is particularly interested in the promotion of professional women artists.

Kathy's works have been exhibited at Nationsbank, Raymond James Financial, Syd Entel Galleries, Marie Selby Gardens, Rosemary Court Gallery, and Ozona Beach Gallery. Her mixed media work, "Alchemy", is in the collection of the City of Clearwater, Florida. She now has collectors in Oregon, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Delaware, Maryland, Washington, DC, and Florida.

Nurse Heal Thyself
Intaglio Print and Red Pencil

Fishes
Hand Embellished Giclee Print

One Day She'll Fly Away
Acrylic/Oil on Canvas

Contact Info

Email: Artsygirl2@cs.com
Kathy Iwanowski studios
PO Box 173
Dunedin FL 34697-0173
(727) 733-6516
USA


Website: www.artistsstudioandgallery.com

Education

University of South Florida, Tampa, BA in Studio Art

Workshops

Oil Painting, Paul Foropoulos, Tarpon Springs,FL
Abstract Techniques, Edward Minchin, FL Watercolor Society

Teaching

Private Lessons, Kathy Iwanowski Studios
Experimental Watermedia, Pasco Art Guild
"Artist's Way", Barnes & Noble Booksellers

Writing 

Tropical Breeze Publications

Publications

Tropical Breeze Publications
The Tampa Bay Tour of Turtles Book

Shows & Exhibits

• Ozona Beach Gallery, Ozona, FL 2001

• Artists' Studio & Gallery, Dunedin, FL 2001

• Rosemary Court Galleries, Sarasota, FL 2001

• Marie Selby Gardens, Sarasota, FL 2001

• Raymond James Financial, St Petersburg, FL 2001

• East West Gallery, St Petersburg, DL 2000

• Our Place Restaurant, Rehoboth Beach, DE 2000

• Oncology Nursing Conference, Washington, DC 2000

• Sheraton Sand Key, Clearwater, FL 2000

• Rosemary Court Galleries, Sarasota, FL 2000

• Sarasota Visual Arts Center, Sarasota, FL 1999

• Rosemary Court Galleries, Sarasota, FL 1999

• Tarpon Springs Cultural Center, Tarpon Springs, FL 1999

• Nationsbank, Tarpon Springs, FL 1999

• Collections City of Clearwater, Clearwater, FL

• Sun Coast Hospital, Largo, FL

• The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, Largo, FL

• Dillards Department Store, Tampa, FL

• The Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Clearwater, FL

• RMF Care Management Services, Crystal Beach, FL

• Dr/Mrs Harry Levine, Sarasota, FL

• Dr/Mrs Dennis Williams, Tarpon Springs, FL

• Dr Carole Medveskey, Clearwater, FL

• Mr/Mrs Victor Sbordon, Clearwater, FL

• Ms Joan Saylor, Eugene, OR

• Mr Michael Lee, Alexandria, VA

• Mr/Mrs Wayne Ferguson, Palm Harbor, FL

• Illustrations Brochure, Pinellas County Environmental Foundation

• Brochure, Clearwater Marine Aquarium Fashion Fundraiser

• Program, Crescendo Women's Chorus

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